Jabra Arrow Bluetooth Headset review

Summary

Our Score:

7

Jabra has recently tried out some fancy designs for its Bluetooth headsets including the radical Stone model that did away with the boom mic. However, with the Arrow the company has taken a more traditional approach, as the headset looks quite similar to the company’s previous models like the JX10. However, the big difference with the Arrow is that it includes both auto volume technology alongside its noise cancelling features. The question is, though, just how much of a different does this fancy circuitry make?

Most headsets arrive in pretty non-descript boxes, but Jabra has gone over board on the Arrow’s packaging as the headset is presented in what’s best described as a clear Perspex display case a. It may be a tad environmentally unfriendly, but there’s no denying that it looks pretty cool. Inside the box along with the headset you’ll find a wall charger and an in-car power adaptor. The power lead on the wall charger is ridiculous short at only 14cm long, so you can’t for example, sit the ear piece on a desk while it’s charging. Instead it tends to just dangle it from the end of the power lead, which is a tad annoying, and looks quite inelegant.

The car charger, on the other hand, is a bit better thought out. It’s a two piece design - the main part that plugs into your car’s power socket/cigarette lighter has a standard USB socket and into this you plug a pivoting curved USB to micro USB adaptor. Not only does this charge the headset (the Arrow has a micro USB port on its rear), but it also acts as a sort of in-car holder, although how useful this will be will depends on exactly where you car’s power point is located.

Before you use the Arrow you first need to fully charge it, which takes around two hours. From a full charge Jabra says that it’s good for around four and a half hours of talk time or around eight days on stand by and in our experience these figures proved about right. The talk time isn’t all that impressive, but it is roughly on a par with other similarly sized headsets equipped with noise cancelling features.

Naturally, comfort is one of the most important things with any headset and thankfully Jabra has comfortably hit the target in this department, even if it hasn't quite got the bullseye. The headset is not only light at 9g, but also quite small in stature measuring a mere 39 x 18 x 24mm - so it doesn’t feel like you’ve got a large piece of gothic jewellery hanging of your lughole when you’re wearing it.

Jabra supplies two ear hooks in the box, along with three different sized ear gels. The default setup for the headset is to use it with an earhook that keeps it snug on your ear, but the extra ear gels include a backloop that lets you use it without a hook if you prefer, as the loop at the back of the gel helps hold it in place. However, we found that the headset didn’t feel quite as stable using just the gels as it did when the hook was attached, but this is really down to personal preference.

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